The Vital Question: Why is Life the Way it Is? (2015)

The Vital Question: Why is Life the Way it Is? (2015)

One of the deepest, most illuminating books about the history of life to have been published in recent years

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ECONOMIST

The Vital Question: Why is Life the Way it Is? (2015)

A strikingly unconventional view of biology… Dr. Lane’s broad perspective, which attempts to address the origins of life, sex and death, is seductive and often convincing.

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Tim Requarth (NEW YORK TIMES)

The Vital Question: Why is Life the Way it Is? (2015)

He is an original researcher and thinker and a passionate and stylish populariser. His theories are ingenious, breathtaking in scope, and challenging in every sense ... intellectually what Lane is proposing, if correct, will be as important as the Copernican revolution.

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Peter Forbes (GUARDIAN)

The Vital Question: Why is Life the Way it Is? (2015)

A bold, eloquent, confident book… Nick Lane is not only a master storyteller, but this is his research… he’s that rare species, a scientist who can illuminate the bewildering complexities of biology with clear, luminous words

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Adam Rutherford (OBSERVER)

The Vital Question: Why is Life the Way it Is? (2015)

Comes triumphantly close to cracking the secret of why life is the way it is, to a depth that would boggle any ancient philosopher's mind.

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Matt Ridley (TIMES)

The Vital Question: Why is Life the Way it Is? (2015)

Nick Lane is emerging as one of the most imaginative thinkers about the evolution of life on Earth... A scintillating synthesis of a new theory of life.

Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life (2005)

Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life (2005)

Audacious... For anyone interested in some of the most profound questions of twenty-first century science. Clearly and forcefully propounded.... This is a new take on why we are here. Do, please, read this book.

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John F. Allen (NATURE)

Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life (2005)

Impressive… readable, provocative and often persuasive… undoubtedly important. An exciting and unusual book.

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Jonathan Hodgkin (TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT)

Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life (2005)

Full of startling insights into the nature and evolution of life as we know it.

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THE ECONOMIST, Books of the Year 2005

Oxygen: The Molecule that Made the World (2002)

Highly ambitious.... Oxygen is a piece of radical scientific polemic, nothing less than a total rethink of how life evolved between about 3.5 billion and 543 million years ago, and how that relates to the diseases we suffer from today.... This is science writing at its best

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FINANCIAL TIMES

Oxygen: The Molecule that Made the World (2002)

Lane's book is an extraordinary orchestration of disparate scientific disciplines, connecting the origins of life on earth with disease, age and death in human beings.

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John Cornwell, SUNDAY TIMES, Books of the Year, 2002

Oxygen: The Molecule that Made the World (2002)

Lane has written a wonderful book about the dual role of oxygen in life and death.... This is a scientific saga as compelling as any creation myth and Lane tells it with appropriate zeal.

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Tim Lenton, TIMES HIGHER EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT

Oxygen: The Molecule that Made the World (2002)

Enthralling.... An excellent book. It held me spellbound for a 7 hour plane flight. I recommend it unreservedly.